


The Bartender

by ixzy1995



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: A mention of Minor Character Death, Drinking & Talking, Dysfunctional Family, Gen, Not overly Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-13
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:49:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24164659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ixzy1995/pseuds/ixzy1995
Summary: "Fuck, just perfect."Nero cursed when he was alone outside on the street, soaking wet under the rain and just got out a fight with his father. Just when he felt like the world turned again him, a kind bartender invited into her bar and during his talk to her, Nero realized that perhaps he gained more than just a rain shelter and nice drinks
Comments: 4
Kudos: 24





	The Bartender

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, this fic is inspired by some certain TV series and manga I just re watch and inspired by a certain songs along with my OC from my other fics. But this could be considered a stand alone so you don't have to see my other fic to understand it but I would be glad if you do.

“Fuck you, asshole.”

Nero angrily stomped out from the Devil May Cry office when he put the Red Queen on his back while wiping out the blood out of his nose after his last fight when his old man. One thing to add in his fuck up family: his asshole father seemed to not even remember the woman whom he fucked years ago.

Nero would have been less angry than he was now if it was the truth, if the asshole just told him anything to confirm or not confirm it at all. But Vergil (the name even felt like acid on his mind) refused to tell him anything, and just demanded a rematch after the Qliphoth ever since his returning from Hell.

To fuck with him and the fighting, was it so hard to know about his own mother? Even if she abandoned him years ago, it was his right to know what kind of person she was or at least, knowing that she was alive or something like that. He didn’t need a tear jerking reunion, but at least, a little bit knowing will be okay.

“Fuck, perfect. Just fucking perfect.”

Nero cursed out loud when he felt the heavy droplets of water fell from sky and hitting his head, he quickly pulled himself up from the street and find a shelter. Nico was taking van to some of garage at the other side of the city for some fixing and he left his phone on the van so it would be impossible to make her drive to get him in this hours; and Nero was still too pissed to return at the shaggy office that his uncle and his asshole daddy occupied.

So Nero was stuck here, until the rain was getting less heavy so he could find a motel or his pride chipped off so he could get back to office. Whatever it happened first.

“Hello, do you want to come in?”

A young girl asked when she opened the door from a bar near where he was standing, she dressed in black pants and a black button up shirt with black waist coat and a small black bow. A very posh outfit for bartenders that he often saw in places like a high end restaurant or a classy bar. Which made Nero almost thought he had gone to a different part of the city in his anger if it was not for the sign of the Strip club near Dante office still visible in the corner of his eyes.

“No, thanks, I am just standing here waiting for the rain to go down.”

Just like to prove Nero luck, the sky roared with thunder and the rain just got heavier along with howling wind that blowing all the rain right into his face. The young girl blinked when she saw Nero practically soaked then said:

“Well, you can wait inside for the rain to get better.” The girl said. “We have towel in it.”

Nero slightly clenched his jaws to contemplate between his choices: continue to stand there like a wet lost dog or taking the girl offer and sat down to a place where it was warm and dry.

“Okay, thanks.”

“You are welcome.”

The girl smiled at him when she opened the door and led him inside the bar. Now, Nero had his speculation about the bar when he saw her uniform but he didn’t expect this: a high end bar with ornate chandeliers radiate warm golden light, glassy table with lux decor and black floor that was so clean Nero swore he could see his reflection in it. Nero felt expensive just by looking in it and he nervously adjust his Red Queen so it would not accidentally scratch any piece of furniture that god know he didn’t even afford to pay without starving his family.

“You can dry yourself with this.”

The girl said warmly when she gave him a clean towel to dry himself. Nero nodded when he took the towel and looked around; there was practically no other guess other than himself.

“You newly opened or something like that?”

“Yeah, this is our first day in the town.” The girl said. “So I guess our bar is not really in the news. But my boss put out some discount, see.”

Nero looked at a small sign put next to the bar:

_“Happy hour from 10 pm to 12pm: Only 2$ per drink.”_

“That is a strange hour for happy hour.”

“I know, but the place is the boss’s and he set the rule, who am I to say?” The girl said. “Hey, it’s happy hour now, you want something to drink. It is crazily expensive in another hour, so it’s better to try it now.”

“Er, it’s okay for you to say that?”

“Unless you report me, I don’t think the table or chair will rat me out.” The girl smiled cheekily when she looked around. “In case you don’t see, I am the only employee here.”

“Alright, give me something to warm up then.” Nero shrugged, he supposed a drink or two would not be a problem.

“Hmm, let me see.”

The brunette bartender thought carefully before she took out a dark bottle and pour out on a beer glass before added some powder and give it a light whisk in it and handed it to him. Nero took a small sip of the liquid, it tasted like whiskey but of course a much more fine taste than the cheap drink in his uncle house. But there was also a taste of certain sweetness of chocolate and a wisp of the burning of paprika powder that make the drink more warm and spicy.

“This is good.” Nero said when he nodded to the bartender. “Not the kind of drink I was expecting but good.”

“Thanks.” The bartender smiled brightly at him. “You know, when people said they need something to warm up in a bar they often think of something really strong and high in alcoholic percentage. But it is not always the case, sometimes they just need something a tad bit of change in the taste bud.”

“Yeah.” Nero said when he continued to take sip. “This kind of reminds me of my girlfriend hot mug of cocoa.”

“Umm, nothing can compare to a hot mug of cocoa in the rainy day like this.” The bartender hummed when she cleaned the shining glass. “So, you have a fight with her or something like that?”

“What make you said so?”

“Not that I pry on you or anything but you were standing and cursing in the rain alone with no umbrella or what so ever is a pretty big sign of you just in a fight with someone and too angry to come back to your house.”

“I am in a fight, but not with her.” Nero took a big gulp of the drink when he remembered why he was wet and alone in the rain in the first place.

“Want to share?” The bartender smiled at him. “It’s not uncommon for customer to tell bartender their life story and we are trained to be good listener, you know. It helps with the sale when the customer talks, they drink even more.”

Nero took a last sip of his drink and put it down the table, the bartender rested her chin on on her hand when she smiled at him:

“Another one?”

“Yes.” Nero said. “But something different.”

“Different how?”

“Just different.”

The bartender nodded when she began to pour some liquor and ice into a highball glass, before adding some juices and top it off with some orange slices.

“Last time is something to warm you up, now perhaps it could keep you cool. May I present you: Cocktail Pimms.”

Nero looked at yellowy glass before he drank it, it was definitely something different. It was a lot stronger than the last drink, but still feel nice in the mouth with the sweetness and sour of the different juices in it that balanced the alcohol out.

“You are really a good bartender, you know that.”

“I am flattered.” The bartender said. “You are actually my first customer to compliment me that way.”

Nero felt the corner of his lips slightly raised when he took the drinks, this felt nice. Somebody just said something nice to him, he said something nice to them, they said it back sincerely and without a quips or sarcastic remarks that made his nerve felt like exploding in anger. Granted, Nero had some anger issue but it was subsided for the last couple of year. At least until a certain demon dumbass raised from Hell and ripped his arms off.

Now, with his new found Devil Trigger and a ‘daddy issue’ like Nico said, Nero felt like he ran on Red Bull every time he faced his newly found family.

“My family is fucked up.”

Nero said when he put the drink down, the bartender said nothing when she poured him another drink. This time, it was nothing fancy but very fine vodka. Something simple and strong, just right for him now.

“My uncle didn’t tell me he is my uncle for years.” Nero poured out. “And when I asked why, this is what he told me: _‘Cause our family is fucked up kid, and I don’t want you to get involve into it.’_ Like the fuck, did he even hear himself? Just because our family is screw so we treated it like some ship wreck and abandoned it all while we could. Did that ass even know how family work?”

“Your uncle didn’t sound very right.” The bartender said. “But, you did ask a good question. Does he really know what a family is? I mean, I don’t know your uncle but I think anyone who grow up in a normal one would never say something like that you know?”

This time, it successfully made Nero thought about it. He knew that Dante lost his parents when he was a kid and lived as a drifter ever since then. He also knew that Dante thought his only brother had died twice. But beside from that, he didn’t know much about the red clad Devil past or what more he had been through; or what he had suffered.

“Look, have you heard about The Zhuangzi Book?”

“What is that?”

“It is an ancient Chinese text which contains stories and anecdotes that exemplify the carefree nature of the ideal Daoist sage. There is this one story that I really like, The Debate on the Joy of Fish. In the story there are two man: Zhuangzi and Huizi were enjoying themselves on the bridge over the Hao River when Zhuangzi said, ‘The minnows are darting about free and easy! This is how fish are happy.’

But then Huizi replied, ‘You are not a fish. How do you know that the fish are happy?’.

And Zhuangzi said, ‘You are not I. How do you know that I do not know that the fish are happy.’

Huizi then said, ‘I am not you, to be sure, so of course I don't know about you. But you obviously are not a fish; so the case is complete that you do not know that the fish are happy.’

Zhuangzi said, "Let's go back to the beginning of this. You said, How do you know that the fish are happy; but in asking me this, you already knew that I know it. I know it right here above the Hao.’ “

“Er, I don’t see where this is going...”

“Exactly the point, I don’t understand what they mean either and the both of them really don’s understand each other too. I guess the moral of the story is, even in the simplest matter, sometimes people found that it is hard to understand the other person. Not for the lack of trying, but because we are completely different individual with different background, different personalities and different experience. So perhaps when you don’t understand him, he doesn’t understand you too; cause he is not you and he can’t see that how is having a family mean to you.”

Nero shrugged when he finished another shot of vodka, somehow he could understand what a girl said. But still though...

“Right, it is not easy to drill in that stubborn head of him any thought.”

“Well, you don’t look like a guy who will give up easily.” The bartender said. “Another shot of vodka?”

“Hmm, how’s about give me some other change. Something fancy like you guy often do?”

The bartender smiled when she tapped her finger, she then got three different liquors in the shaker with some ice before poured on the already cold cocktail glass and garnish it a slice of lemon peel in it.

“Shall I introduce you: Vesper Martini, the classic shake but not stir from James Bond.” The bartender said. “Very classic and classy the same time, I tell you.”

“I do hear someone talk about this.” Nero said when he gave it a try. “Sounded like something my highsy pantsy father would like.”

“I think the word you were looking for is pretentious.” The bartender smiled softly at him. “I take it is not going well with your father too.”

“Yeah, he is an asshole.” Nero said. “My uncle is one but at least he is a caring asshole. My father is just a straight up cold hearted bastard that cared for no one but himself.”

“What did he do?”

“Nothing, he did absolutely nothing.” Nero took another drink. “He says nothing, does nothing and refused to let anyone near him.”

“Why do I get a feel that your dad sounded more like a vulnerable person than a heartless one?”

Nero immediately scoffed at the idea, she didn’t see Vergil performed a Judgment Cut that killed a pack of demons with ease just hours ago. Or she didn’t see him in his Devil Trigger fighting with Nero and nearly ruined a neighborhood just for the sake of his ‘rematch’.

“You know, those people are more common than you thought.” The bartender said when she topped some lemon slice on a drink. “From what you said, he is unresponsive when he is around you. If he is really unconcerned about you, he would just tell you off instead just staying silent about the whole thing right? He is kind of that person right, telling straight off people in the face if they annoyed him.”

That was actually true, Nero had watched countless time Vergil in his subtle way or not tell Dante to fuck off from his face each time of his tantrum and quips. But he never once heard Vergil said that to him each time he asked about his mother or even how they met. Instead, he just stayed silent and put on passive face when he ignored Nero.

And now the booze both making him dizzy and clear his mind the same time, Nero saw the past action that Vergil took in a different light.

It was almost like Vergil was running about telling him about his mother.

“Shit, it is whether I drink too much or I drink not enough.”

Nero said when he smacked his head, the thought of Vergil running away from such trivial thing sounded so outrageous it was almost laughable. And yet the same time, he remembered this is also the one who was willingly to stab himself just for the sake of cutting his pain and nightmare. Or what V said to him in the Qliphoth tree:

_“All I wanted is to be loved and protected.”_

“Oh trust me, you are just tipsy but not drunk.” The bartender said. “And I have to admit, you have quite an amazing tolerance, you know that.”

“Yeah.”

Nero said when he looked outside of the window. The rain had stopped for a while and Nero felt like he had cool down enough to go back to the Devil May Cry shop; it was nice to drink in here but he needed some sleep too.

“Alright, seemed like it is time for me to go.” Nero said when he took out a fifty dollar on the table. “Thanks for your time and patience. Keep the change.”

“Hey, just one more thing.” The bartender called when Nero about to step out of the door. “About your dad; sometimes people don’t want to talk not because they don’t want to talk to you but because sometimes talking about certain things meaning reliving those memories again. And it could be too painful for them; I know it from my experience.”

Nero looked at the girl stood behind from bar, perhaps it was because of the alcohol in his system but for a fleeting moment he felt like she was so much older than she looked. But then she gave him a bright smile when she said:

“Also, please spread the word about our bar okay?”

“Sure.”

Nero smiled when he waved at her before he walked to his uncle shaggy office. The girl let out a small sigh when she cleaned the table and glassed, but slightly stopped when she saw a man dressed in black fancy black suit with top had and shades walked in the bar and rested his elbow on it.

“Triple shot whiskey, no ice, no shake.”

“Sure, boss.”

The girl said when she poured the drink for the man, his gloved hand reached out and he took the drink in one strike.

“So does it worth it?” The man asked when he put down the glass on the table. “One hundred year of servitude at the between of life and death instead of going to Heaven and reunited with your loved one, only for a fleeting moment with the child that would probably never knew half of the sacrifices you made for him.”

“Yes.”

The girl answered immediately without a single wavering when she put the glasses and bottle in the cabin when the light changed, from the golden warm radiant light to the cold blue one that revealed many ghostly figure that were occupying in every table.

“I would like some gin.”

“Of course sir.”

A gray ghost came the bartender when he said passively, she smiled then poured him the drink and watched as the ghost using its severed hand to lift up the glass and swallowed the liquid. The ghost hollow gaps where the eye once were didn’t show any emotion as he silently walked back to his sit, not before putting the glass on the table.

“I never understand how you mortal would willingly suffer a lifetime of pain only to get such a fleeting moment of happiness?” The man said when he put the glass before the bartender to get another refill.

“Well, I can’t understand how anyone can wear hat and sunglasses indoor at night.” The bartender said. “Besides, it’s not a mortal thing. Probably just my thing, like my ex said: ‘Only a fool like you would do.’”

“Well then, with all said and done, now it’s time for you to continue to work. Your one hundred year of servitude is still not over.” The man said when he tapped at the bar. “Beside, if you are a good girl, I may lead your son and his father here when their time is up.”

“Hopefully not too soon.”

The girl said when she served drink to another soul when the shop door closed as it disappeared from the street without a single living soul notice; only leaving an empty warehouse to which made a certain young Devil Hunter scratched his head furiously when he tried to find it the next morning.

**Author's Note:**

> \- Vergil is a silent dick not showing that he care  
> \- Dante is a dick but showing he care  
> \- Nero: ლ(ಠ益ಠლ  
> \- Nero mother as a ghost watching everyone: =.=


End file.
